Balance
by streetlamp
Summary: With the divorce of James Potter's parents and the start of anorexia surrounding Lily Evan's family, the story is woven of teenagers growing from children into adults, searching for their ideals and an improved love life, finally balancing out it all.
1. Chapter 1

**B**_alance_

Chapter 1

"Valene, _you _had the hundred galleons last. _Where are they?"_ Came a voice down the hall from James Potter's bedroom one night as he lay awake next to his best friend, a sleeping Sirius Black.

"Delbert, what do you think I could've done with a hundred galleons? I put them right on the tabl--"

"But they're not there now. You know you did something with them. Don't ing lie to me."

"Delbert--"

"Don't, Valene, just don't. All you ever do is spend money and ask for some more. You _know_ that it could be used on better things than _you_." The boy's father spit out his last words, leaving a silence to follow. "Valene, don't cry. I didn't mean it. Just don't cry..."

"Delbert, I don't _know_ where the money is. _I don't._" The boy's mother paused to stifle a sob. "_Please_ don't blame everything on me."

There was a long moment of sobbing and comforting before the boy's mother spoke once more. "Delbert, I don't think this is working out."

"What's not working out? A treadmill?"

"_Us,_ Delbert. We don't love each other like we used to."

"Valene, shut up about that. It's ridiculous."

"You never used to tell me to shut up."

"Then _please be quiet_." There was a pause before Delbert continued. "Let's get some sleep. We'll be all back to normal tomorrow morning."

"Delbert!" Valene exclaimed suddenly, stirring Sirius from his sleep. "Normal _is_ the situation we have right now."

"Wha's'appenin'?" Sirius asked groggily, slowly picking his head up from his pillow and looking around through half-opened eyes.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep," the other boy, James ordered in a whisper, turning his head back to his parents' voices, but the house was silent.

&

At that exact moment, just on the other side of town, a chubby blonde girl was sleeping silently when a tapping noise came from the window, almost muffled by the pounding rain outside.

"Wh- Who's out th-there?" the girl, Petunia, stuttered, her heart pattering in her chest as her head shot up from her pillow. "H-hullo?" _Tap, tap. _Cautiously, the young woman crawled to the window on all fours, afraid that the person on the other side of the glass had a gun ready to shoot. Still cautious, Petunia drew aside the curtains just a bit to see what was out there, only to come face-to-face with a tawny owl.

"Bloody hell," she muttered, leaning herself against the wall in relief. "Just an owl." Still trembling, she drew the curtains once more to stare at the owl, contemplating whether or not to let it in.

Glancing over her shoulder to her sister because she knew well the owl was for her, she opened the window, letting the owl soar in and drop a letter by Petunia's sister's sleeping form. Almost as soon as it had came, the owl flew back out the window. Petunia, shocked at the owl's quick visit, slowly walked to her sister's bed and picked up the letter, nosy as she was.

Dearest Lily-Flower,

You are by far the most beautiful girl

Ever to set foot in this dull world.

Your eyes light up the sun come morn',

Your lips like a rose and its thorn.

Your lips are of great magnificence,

And you, alone, of perfect essence.

Of course with me, you would be better,

And with a kiss, I seal this letter.

The letter continued on, but Petunia simply jammed it back into its envelope, tears streaming down her cheeks. It wasn't fair that her sister, Lily, constantly got all the attention, the good grades, and now, as Petunia had just realized, little freaks of admirers. Petunia, herself, on the other hand, had never had any form of an admirer, and she knew well she would never find one crazy enough to step foot near her.

Lily, not quite asleep, had watched her sister for the past few minutes with mild interest, and now, not understanding the situation, dozed into a deep sleep.

a/n: hope you all liked it. r & r!

helen


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Petunia, you're too _fat _to fit into the leotards," Lily Evans teased her older sister one early August morning as she and her sister, Petunia, sat eating breakfast. Petunia had just announced her new dream—to become a ballerina.

The older girl pursed her lips in their well-I'm-better-than-you position as she stopped her forkful of scrambled eggs halfway to her mouth. "Fine. I'll only eat half my normal breakfasts for the next week."

"Do what you want," the Lily said, standing up to put her plate in the dishwasher, "but your problem will take a lot more than that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Petunia called after a few moments as the redhead left the room, a grin playing on Lily's lips as if to say, 'I finally insulted you.'

"Oh, nothing," Lily called over her shoulder, still grinning. Petunia's stomach growled loudly at that moment, somehow motivating Petunia to put her remaining scrambled eggs and toast in the trash.

Petunia sat herself down in the living room a few minutes later, looking down at her stomach. Because of her bent-over position, several rolls of fat had formed themselves on her tummy, squishing down her belly button so it appeared to be a small, narrow crease in-between layers of fat. _I am fat,_ she thought shamefully, frowning down at herself.

&

"Prongs, what's up with your parents? They've been playing the silent game all day," Sirius Black asked James Potter as they waited in line in a pizza parlor that night, the smell of fresh-baked dough and tomatoes wafting throughout the small restaurant.

"They just had a little fight last night," James responded simply, downplaying the real circumstances.

"Oh." Sirius furrowed his brow, obviously trying to remember the last time James's parents had fought. "But your parents never figh—"

"Yes, they do," James cut off his friend in a slightly cold manner.

"They barely even talk to each other," Sirius realized, laughing. He'd always viewed the Potter family as perfect and harmonious, and thinking about it in any other way seemed to be some sort of joke to him.

"Shut up," James ordered, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked ahead.

Sirius's laughter immediately stopped, crossing his own arms over his chest. "Whatever," he mumbled.

James sighed. "Just because your family is bad doesn't mean mine is perfect. We're not too good to have our own problems. We—"

"Prongs, I never said any of that," Sirius countered, both boys' anger mounting.

James paused before saying quietly, "You don't understand."

"No, James, you don't understand. My family as at the height of evil and cowardliness, depending on how you look at it, and walking into your house is like walking into—"

"Padfoot, do you even _know_ what divorce is?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sirius asked, waving an arm around.

He never got an answer though, since they reached the front of the line to pick up their pizza at that moment.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Hey," a voice greeted the boys as they stormed into James's house about ten minutes later. Looking up, they came face-to-face with Remus Lupin, another one of their good friends.

"Hey, Moony," James and Sirius greeted him in unison without even asking why the shaggy-haired brunette was there.

James took the pizzas to the kitchen. "Sweets, you home already?" Mrs. Potter's voice came as James entered the kitchen.

"Apparently," he responded sarcastically, placing the pizzas on the counter and opening one up.

Mrs. Potter remained silent for a moment before asking, "You had a fight with Remus?"

"No," James answered coldly, taking a piece of pizza and biting into it.

"With Sirius?"

"Yeah," James said quietly, walking out the kitchen and into the dining room before his mother could respond, where Remus's and Sirius's voices could be heard from the next room over, in the living room.

"I guess he can be like that sometimes," came Remus's voice in a thoughtful manner, making James stop in his tracks. Were they talking about him?

"I know, but this was too much. I've never seen James be such a little kid just because I said his parents had been quiet all day."

"His parents have been quiet all day?"

"Yeah. But it's not like they talk much anyway."

"I hear his mom talking all the time."

"They never talk to _each other_. They understand each other too much to bother talking or something."

"It's possible their marriage isn't working out, you know," Remus countered.

"Ha, yeah, right. Prongs's family is perfect. I just don't get why he can act like such a little kid about it sometimes."

&

An hour before James and Sirius had even left for the pizza parlor, Lily had been watching Petunia jog out the house, the first exercise her sister had gotten in weeks. Sure enough, a few neighbors were glancing out their windows out of curiosity, and one of their obese neighbors across the street, Vernon, was staring at Petunia and licking his lips, taking in the fact she wasn't wearing a sports-bra. _Sick pervert,_ Lily thought, drawing her curtains closed.

"So do you want to go out for ice cream?" Lily asked politely to the fourteen-year-old boy sitting across the room from her. She'd volunteered to help out with some severely depressed kids at her local hospital, and had been asked to simply bring Jacob, the boy, around town so he could exist outside the hospital without the danger of committing suicide.

"I don't care," he responded quietly, keeping his eyes on the floor.

"Great! Then let's go!" Lily said with quite a bit of forced enthusiasm. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy being with Jacob, but she felt that she had to make him have no doubts she looked forward to his visits.

&

Lily and Jacob sat at the ice cream parlor, licking their cones in silence. "So is that your favorite flavor?" Lily finally asked politely, looking at Jacob's vanilla ice cream.

"What does it matter?" he muttered bluntly in response.

"Okay. Well my favorite flavor is vanilla."

Suddenly, Lily heard familiar voices in the pizza parlor next door. "Padfoot, do you even _know_ what divorce is?" The voice was distant, but Lily could still tell it was James Potter's. Before her loathing for James could even flood through her body, another familiar voice came.

"What does that have to do with anything?" came Sirius Black's voice, obviously annoyed.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Sirius and James walked out of the pizza parlor, Sirius glancing over at Lily's and Jacob's table. He stopped walking for a moment as he locked eyes with Lily, trying to figure out what she was doing, happily sitting at the same table as a boy, but quickly caught back up to James. He glanced back over his shoulder at Lily and Jacob as he followed James into the nearby parking lot, his eyes holding a new flicker of false understanding.

helen


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Lily turned down a dark alley one night a few days later, her low-cut shirt and short skirt failing to block out the chilly winds running down the alley. Her high-heels clicked against the pavement rhythmically, her face a moon in the dark.

Suddenly, the sound of a cigarette falling came from a few feet away. "I can keep you warm," a voice suddenly came from the shadows, it's owner's dark intentions dripping from his every word.

"James, is that you?" Lily asked, rubbing the goose-bumps now visible up and down are arms and legs as she began taking slow steps backward, keeping her hand on the wall as if she could run to it for protection.

"Forget about James," the voice said, a figure emerging from against a building wall. "You've got me."

"Get awa—" Lily began, but the voice's owner, a thirty-something year old man, had locked his lips with Lily's, pushing her into the nearest wall. The redheaded girl kept her mouth shut despite the tongue she could feel licking her lips, trying to squirm out of the man's reach. Nonetheless, he was reaching under her shirt when a voice came from just a few feet away.

"Lily, is that you?" Immediately, the man and Lily turned to face Sirius Black and James Potter, their eyes both shining in the moonlight.

"Yes, thank G-d," Lily gasped, trying to push the man away from her, but his hands seemed glued on her waist.

Quickly analyzing the situation, James took a few steps forward until he was only a few inches away from the man. "Get your hands off of her," James whispered darkly, his eyes flickering dangerously behind his glasses with jealousy.

The man contemplated his next action for a moment, eyeing James's arm muscles skeptically. Finally, he let Lily go, pushing past Sirius as he walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Sirius exclaimed jokingly, "Technically, I'm an older guy as well, Lily, if that's what you're looking for in a man."

"Shut up, Sirius," James ordered angrily before Lily could say anything.

"James, you're just jealous of how Lily is checking me out," Sirius countered, grinning playfully. Immediately, James's head spun around to Lily, who'd only been glaring at Sirius.

"I need to go," Lily muttered, turning her eyes to the ground. "Thanks for… yeah." As quickly as she could, she paced out of the alleyway, her high heels clicking on the pavement in a harsh-sounding rhythm.

"Can't you take in any serious issues without making a joke?" James spit out as soon as Lily had turned a corner into the shadows.

"Can't _you_ take in any serious issues without _forcing_ all your anger on _me_?" Sirius retorted, anger boiling throughout his body.

"You don't get _anything_, Sirius, nothing!" James said, his voice rising.

"Like you get my family? James, you don't know where I'm coming from."

"I get your family, Padfoot. I just don't get why, if you hate your family so much, you think about them so _often_ that they affect half the things that happen to you!" James was yelling now, his arms flying around in emphasis of what he was saying.

"James, you think everything is so simple. If you like someone, you think about them a lot, if you hate someone, you forget they exist… or hang them from a tree in their underwear."

"Whatever," James responded quietly, walking past Sirius angrily.

thank you so much for all the reviews you guys have been giving me! i've been having so much fun writing this, and it really makes me feel all happy when you say you enjoy reading it. i forget this person's username, but they said they were hoping for longer chapters, so the next chapter (i wrote it a few hours ago.) has 861 words, which is like a record for me. anyway, thank you so, so much for the reviews. i really appreciate them.

helen


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lily stood just outside the kitchen, her nose inches from the kitchen door, waiting for Petunia to finish talking on the phone just on the other side of the door. The redhead had been having a number of thoughts running through her head within the last few days, and now she was mentally practicing her apology to Petunia. 'Hey, Petunia,' Lily would say casually, beginning to take a glass from one of the kitchen cabinets, 'do you remember a couple of days ago when you said you wanted to be a ballerina?' 'Yeah,' Petunia would respond, probably examining her nail polish. 'What about it?' Then Lily would answer, maintaining her casual manner, 'Well, when I called you fat, I didn't quite—'

Lily's thoughts were cut off by something Petunia was saying on the other end of the phone. "Val, my sister is just such a _freak_. I mean, all she ever does is wander around like a ghost with a couple of books or something. I mean, she uses quills instead of pens!" The voice on the other side of the line was probably speaking, because Petunia paused before continuing. "How am I supposed to know where she gets them? All I know his she's the biggest freak alive.

Anger flooded through Lily, and she'd been just about to turn around when Petunia swung open the kitchen door, the telephone pressed snugly between Petunia's ear and shoulder. "Her hair is like a clown's—" Petunia immediately stopped speaking when she saw Lily standing just behind the door. For a moment, the two sisters stood there, staring at each other in silent understanding, but then a voice spoke on the other end of the phone.

"Petty? Petty, are you there? Hullo? Huuuuuuuullllllllloooooooooo?" Petunia kept her eyes locked with Lily for a second longer before squeezing past the redhead.

"Yeah, Val. I'm still here." Petunia paused, glancing back over her shoulder at Lily, who was still staring at the kitchen door in pure fury. "Like I was saying, her hair belongs in the circus.

&

"Pass the bread, please, Delbert," James's mother said coldly at dinner a few hours later. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were thoroughly avoiding eye contact, and even though James was mentally recording his parents' every movement, Sirius seemed perfectly oblivious to the new stiffness resident at their dinner table.

"It's good bread," Sirius said in between mouthfuls of pasta, garlic bread, and salad.

"Thank you, Sirius," Mrs. Potter responded, flashing a smile.

"I mean really, Mr. Potter, you must be so lucky to live with this cooking all year round. The food at Hogwarts, it's like cement," Sirius continued, waving his fork around for emphasis.

"Call me Delbert," Mr. Potter said, trying not to react to Sirius's last words, seeing as he and Valene had been discussing a divorce only a few hours before.

"Sorry, Delbert," Sirius apologized casually, pointing his fork at Mr. Potter as if to make perfectly clear he wasn't talking to James or Valene.

"It's fine, Sirius."

There was a moment of silence filled only with Sirius's silverware clinking against his plate as he struggled to get the spaghetti onto his fork. Finally, Mrs. Potter spoke. "Sirius and James, Delbert and I have something to tell you both." Valene smiled, turning her head towards Sirius. "Sirius, we've decided that it's only fair you know as well, seeing as you're practically our second son." She paused, taking in a breath as if to prepare herself for the next thing she was about to say. "Recently, Delbert and I have been thinking, and we've realized that we're not the same people we married nineteen years ago, and are perhaps more suitable for different people."

"I don't understand," Sirius announced, furrowing his brow.

"Mr. Potter and I are getting a divorce."

There was another long moment in silence, Sirius slowly shaking his head in shock while looking from Delbert to Valene. James, on the other hand, was trying to figure out why he felt so shocked when he'd known this conversation had been coming for the past few weeks.

"Y-you can't," Sirius suddenly broke out, his gray eyes still darting from Mr. to Mrs. Potter. "This… I… No."

"Sirius, Delbert and I are just not in love anymore. It wouldn't be right if—"

"No," Sirius cut Mrs. Potter off. "You've always been married; this is how it's supposed to be. G-d wouldn't have brought you two together if you were meant to be apart."

Delbert suddenly spoke. "We're not Catholics, Sirius. Divorce isn't forbidden."

"But—"

"James, how do you feel?" Valene suddenly asked, looking over to her silent son.

James hesitated before answering, slowly looking around the table. His parents were both smiling the most unnatural smiles that had ever touched their faces, and his best friend was looking around in utter shock, as if everyone had suddenly gone crazy except for him. "Sort of shocked."

Before anyone could say anything, James got up, not bothering to put his plate away or push in his chair, and walked right out the front door.

"James, get back here!" Valene called after her son, putting her napkin down on the table and getting up, but Delbert silenced her.

"He'll be fine," he said quietly.

a/n: sorry it took me a full day to get this chapter out; i didn't have much time to proofread. please review!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"OhmyG-d, Lily!" Petunia exclaimed excitedly the afternoon, bursting open Lily's bedroom door excitedly.

"Go away," Lily ordered, keeping her nose stuffed in a magazine.

"But Lil—"

"No. Remember, you're talking to the _circus_ freak," Lily countered, turning her eyes up to face Petunia.

"Ugh, Lily," Petunia said, rolling her eyes. "You're being such a baby. That was more than twenty-four hours ago."

"Go away."

"Lily, I have something to tell you!" Petunia retorted, clearly frustrated from trying to keep in this recent event for so long. Lily ignored her though, turning a page of her magazine in a rather snobby manner. "But Lil, Vernon Dursley asked me out!"

Lily raised her eyebrows for a moment at this, nonetheless keeping her eyes on her magazine. "You mean the big guy?"

"Yeah," Petunia responded dreamily, leaning against the door frame and staring up at the ceiling, knowing well she was exaggerating her utter love for Vernon.

"Don't you want to get to know him before really _feeling_ anything for him?" Lily asked, finally looking up from her magazine.

"You're such a _dork_, Lily," Petunia criticized, snapping out of her Vernon-related fantasies. "You can't even feel happy for me."

Lily sighed, returning her gaze to her magazine, but leaving her mind to drift elsewhere. Could people tell the weight Petunia had lost? Were people noticing her just a tiny bit more because she no longer weighed a hundred eighty-seven kilograms? Lily closed her magazine, turning her head out the window. Was the world really such a shallow place that Vernon Dursley had suddenly been attracted to Petunia now that she was losing a few pounds and had abandoned the entire sports-bra concept during her jogs?

"Hullo?" Mrs. Evans's voice came downstairs, in the kitchen as she picked up the phone. "Of course, she's right here." There was a moment's pause, probably for Gloria to cover up the phone's mouthpiece. "Lily! The phone's for you! The hospital, I think."

Within just a few seconds, Lily was taking the phone from her mother. "Hullo?" the redhead asked into the mouthpiece, tucking a wisp of hair behind her ear.

"Ms. Evans?" a woman's voice came from the other side of the phone.

"Yes?"

"We have some news about Jacob." Immediately, Lily remembered the young, depressed boy she'd been bringing around town for the past few months.

"Has he recovered or something? He seemed sort of dazed when I saw him last, but I figured he'd just been sleepy. What happene—"

"Ms. Evans, Jacob has not recovered," the woman said sadly, as if she was just about to read the about the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, knowing what was coming and not being able to prevent it. "Jacob committed suicide."

"What?" Lily asked weakly after a few moments, shock flooding through her body.

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Evans." The woman hesitated before continuing. "We sent you a copy of the note Jacob wrote before he died; you were mentioned a number of times."

"Henrietta, you done with that phone?" a voice came from the background on the woman's end of the line.

"Yeah, Jake, just about," the woman, Henrietta, responded, obviously convinced that she had covered up her phone's mouthpiece considerably well with her hand.

Lily hung up the phone for Henrietta, walking out her front door to go for a walk to clear her head. She'd only gone two blocks when Sirius Black popped up in front of her, his expression deeply amused.

"What happened to your boyfriend?" he teased unknowingly, stuffing his hands down his pockets innocently.

"Sirius, I've already told you; James and I aren't even friends," Lily responded angrily, trying to walk past Sirius so she could continue trying to wear off her shock.

"I'm not talking about _James_," Sirius continued, nudging Lily for the full effect. "I'm talking about your ice cream man."

"My what?" the redhead asked darkly, turning her head up to face Sirius.

"The guy you were having ice cream with a little while ago." He wiggled his eyebrows playfully.

"Woah my gosh, Sirius, don't do that to me," Lily begged, hiding her face behind her hands momentarily.

"You guys just broke up?" Sirius put an arm around Lily's shoulder, leading his hand down to her waist. "I'm always available, y'know."

"D, Sirius, he just…" Lily let her voice trail off before finishing her sentence. "He just _died_." Lily paused, debating whether or not to finish her thoughts. "And we weren't dating, anyway."

"Oh," Sirius said quietly, grabbing his hand from Lily's shoulder and stuffing it in his pocket, turning his eyes down to the ground. "Well... well, I've gotta go."

"Bye."

"Yeah, bye."

a/n: thank you so much for the reviews again. je vous aime.

btw, please tell me if you found this chapter to be adding too many problems to lily's life; i wasn't sure. thank you.

helen


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Delbert, are we legally married according to the _Muggle _government?" Valene asked one afternoon as she cooked dinner, Delbert reading the newspaper in the next room over while James and Sirius tried to find a jinx to make their homework do itself.

"I don't believe the Muggle government knows either of us are alive," Delbert called back, turning a page in his newspaper.

"Ah." Valene paused to shift some onions onto the other side of her frying pan. "Then we shouldn't need to get a divorce, but rather just move out?"

"Hukmeedel," Sirius exclaimed suddenly, flicking his wand at the pile of homework lying between he and James. The two boys were leafing through a few spellbooks as quickly as they could, trying not to hear Mr. and Mrs. Potter's discussion.

"I can't imagine we wouldn't need to notify the Ministry in some way or another; they need to send us all of their rules on how to stay safe near dead cats hanging by their tails from three black ribbons," Delbert responded, not moving from his place in the living room.

"So we'll just send a letter to them, then?" Valene asked, picking a golden-brown onion out of her pan and popping it into her mouth.

"That sounds about right."

"How do you set things on fire again?" James asked, turning his head up to face Sirius.

Sirius let out a dog-like laugh. "You want to put our homework on fire?" he asked, sitting back in his chair casually.

"Or at least throw it off a cliff or something."

"Good plan," Sirius commented, opening up his spellbook once more and looking for a curse to set the books on fire.

"Delbert, who will be taking the boys once we move out?" Valene asked suddenly, turning off the stove and sprinkling some seasonings over her onions.

"I'd love to take the boys if you can't care for them," Delbert said eagerly, desperate to be able to keep with his son.

"They _are_ going into their last year at Hogwarts," Valene reasoned, mixing her spices in with the onions.

"Right, but there's still Christmas, Easter…"

"I suppose," Valene said, opening her oven to check the garlic bread she'd put in there earlier. "But those are just temporary. Both boys should be living on their own by next June."

"Valene, you must understand that one of us will be in need to keep the boys' possessions — whatever won't fit into their trunks, that is."

"I can keep all that."

"Oh, no, Valene, there's no need for you troubling yourself over small things like that. _I_ will keep two beds, a desk, et cetera."

James turned his head up to face his parents. "We don't have to come home for Christmas and Easter," he suddenly spoke up, unable to block out his parents' conversation, as he slammed shut his book.

His parents were both silent at his statement. "But James, there's no need for that—"

"Yes, there is. There will be more space at Hogwarts for Sirius and me than at your apartments or houses or whatever."

"James, I don't think you're quite grasping the situation." Valene paused before continuing. "The only people who don't go home for Christmas are the people who either hate their families or don't have anyone to go home to."

"I hate _my_ biological family," Sirius piped up, deciding that he couldn't fully ignore the conversation.

"Yes, and I'd just be keeping him company there," James agreed.

"I don't think my family has ever invited me to come home for Christmas," Sirius continued, speaking to no one in particular.

"Well I suppose we could let the two of you stay," Valene decided hesitantly.

"Actually, I think the last time I had Christmas with my family was when I was ten or something."

"Are you sure about this, Valene?" Delbert asked, getting up and coming to face Valene.

"That's right, when I was ten. Mum was all, 'Get that stupid present out of here! Sirius what were you thinking, giving your brother a book of how to defeat the Dark Arts?'"

"I suppose there's no way around this," Valene reasoned, shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't think I ever got rid of that book, though. Never stopped telling my family that all the book said was how to shut up some little girl who sings nursery rhymes. Suppose little girls are all there is to the Dark Arts, eh?"

"Oh, we can still have them home, me for Christmas and you for Easter."

"My mum still can't stop screaming about that book. Dear, ol' mum. She's the devil, I'm telling you."

"No. They'll be off on their own come June, and until them, they'll be staying at Hogwarts."

"Alright."

a/n: i hope you all like it! thank you for the reviews. someone asked for who james and sirius would be staying with, so thank you for that; it momentarily got rid of my writer's block.

by the way, to anyone celebrating rosh ha'shanah-- shanah tovah! (good year!) i went to services this morning, and i technically shouldn't be typing or anything... but i owed you all a post.

&helen&


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